Quito to Board the Carina in Baltra, Galapagos, Day 8 - Tuesday, 21 December 2021

Galivanting thru the Galapagos & the Amazon

Day 8 - Quito to Board the Carina (Baltra & Santa Cruz) - Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Up early & ready for breakfast!  Delfin had our Covid tests!  Yea, we were all negative & ready to fly to Galapagos!  Yippee!

Had to process in a special line at the airport to go to the Galapagos.  There was quite a line, but it went easily & we all had our paperwork ready, so straight thru.  They were checking our Covid shot records, our passports, & our negative test results.  Delphin got us thru, then said goodbye at security.  He will be there to meet us when we get back in a week!  Very excited!

The first leg of the flight was Quito to Guayaquil.  Uneventful and mostly clear skies.  Sat on the tarmac for about 45 minutes for unloading & loading, then back in the air.  Noticed a statute as we were taxiing to the airport.  Read that it's a monument to the Huancavilca Indians, Guayan & Quil who provided the name for the city.  Enjoyed the clear skies that let us see the many waterways that surround this city.

The flight to Baltra was easy...but landing was not.  It got rather tense as we ended up making a 3rd try!!!  George & I felt like we were in an Air Force plane doing touch & gos!!!  We almost touched down twice, but immediately accelerated & circled back around.  On the 3rd try we finally landed.  Our guide, Luis was on the flight with us & he told us later that he was worried we were going to return to Guayaquil.  Apparently they can't fuel up on Baltra & the touch & gos use up a lot of fuel, so they usually return to the mainland if they can't land on the 2nd try.  He said that this time of year is considered a transitional period when the 2 water currents are switching - Humbolt (cooler water flowing from the south) & the Equatorial Current (warmer water from the north) are switching and they cause wind currents that disrupt landing.  We could see the runway flags changing direction by 90*.  Regardless, we landed & made it through Custom inspections.  We were just showing our passports & entry papers when Luis showed up to save us from repaying the $100 per person to enter the Galapagos National Park!!!!

Lots of Land Iquanas were exciting the tourist at the airport.  A couple of guides were trying to shoo them out of the road so the buses could pick everyone up.   It seemed much like when we landed 6 years ago other than everyone was wearing masks this time!

Luis got us all rounded up in one area of a bus with our luggage & we took the short ride to the dock to wait for our zodiac (they called them pangas) to go to the Carina.  The scenery we passed enroute is not anything to rave about - very dry with some scrubby bushes.

While we were waiting on the dock, our guide pointed out the lazy sea lion & a couple of Lava Gulls.  It was hard to be excited about gulls, but he was right, it was several days before we saw any other gulls!  Sea Lions on the other hand make their appearance everywhere throughout the Galapagos archipelago.   We also saw Magnificient Frigates wheeling above us.

Luis gave us our cabin assignments as soon as we got on board.  We were on the main level & the closest cabin to the Lounge/Dining Room.  One couple had canceled out at the last minute, so an upgraded cabin was available on the top deck, but before we had even had time to think about it, one of the single ladies took it so they wouldn't have to share.  We had intended to take a look at it, but never got around to it.  I don't believe there were any differences in the cabins in general, it was just at a higher level.  We ended up being very pleased with the placement of our cabin.  It really cut down on the stair climbing & was never noisy at all.  Joffre, the head of housekeeping/dining service/bar service followed us to our cabin & asked if we would like our twin beds joined up & we said yes.  When we visited the Galapagos before (on the Tip Top III), the small bed was against the wall & not too comfortable.  These on the other hand were excellent.  A definite upgrade from the other ship.   We had one window to look out the side of the ship.  There was another window in the bathroom, but it was frosted & locked, so no view there.  Often we even left the door propped open, so it felt roomy & open.

We met back in the dining room for lunch as we were moving from the dock at Baltra to the first disembarkation on Santa Cruz.  This was the first of the yummy 3 meals a day that were provided on the Carina.  I'll talk more about that later.  Our guide Luis & the Housekeeping Steward Joffre worked together constantly to provide us with fabulous service during the following week.

While we were eating & getting situated, our Captain & crew had been moving us from the northeast side of Balta to the Northeast tip of Santa Cruz.  Santa Cruz is the 2nd largest of the islands & one of the only 4 that are allowed to have folks living on it.  New residents are not allowed to move to the islands.

So, our first time to exit the boat for an excursion on the pangas!  Luis would tell us what time to be ready & we would gather at the back of the Carina where the staff would meet us & help us into the life vests.  We would already know if this was going to be a "dry" landing onto a dock or a "wet" landing where we would have to step out of the panga into the water.  This first one was a dry landing.

But before going to the dock, Luis had the first of many surprises for us.  We went straight to a rocky outcropping to see our first Blue Footed Boobys!!!!!  There was a huge flock of them gathered together.  We were to find this was unusual, they were normally in just small groups of 2 or 3.  Luis said they were gathered here to fish.

We continued on to the dock.  Saw another yacht  loading supplies.  Luis said that almost all food supplies for the tourist cruises were brought over from the mainland.  Although there were farmers on the 4 inhabited islands, they only provided produce for themselves & their families, not commercially for the tourist cruises.  We had actually seen lots of those boxes being loaded onto the airplane in Guayaquil.

We took a bus on the E5 highway that crosses a little more than halfway across the island before veering east to provide access via road to Puerto Ayora (the capital of the island & the most populated city in the Galapagos - 18,000 residents).  We stopped before it turned east.  The plan is to come back to Santa Cruz at the end of the week to see the city & the Darwin Research Station.  The island has an elevation of almost 3000' & we saw a climate change as we topped the mountain.  The entire island is a volcano with the peak a caldera.  When we were here before, we stopped to take a look at it, not this time.  

Our goal was to see the Galapagos Giant Land Tortoises at the Reserva El Chato Ranchoprimcias.  This tortoise sanctuary works to preserve the Giant Tortoise & they raise them & send them back out into the wild.  We got to visit this location when we were here in 2015.  It is a part of the National Park system & you must have a guide to visit.  The Tortoises are not enclosed & we started to see them in the fields as we approached the actual sanctuary ground.  

The tortoise poop is pretty darn impressive!  We made sure to avoid stepping in it!

The Tortoises paid us absolutely no mind. They are just going about their own business of eating, sleeping, pooping, & occasionally reproducing. We never saw the actually reproducing. Just as well! They were happy to pose for a picture!!

Galapagos Mockingbird

Medium Ground Finch

Small Ground Finch

Small Tree Finch

Woodpecker Finch

We saw lots of birds too. Luis introduced us to his most impressive "parlor trick." He would stand under a tree & emulate a mockingbird call. Soon, Finches of all shapes & sizes would come to his call. This gave us our first views of 3 of the most common Galapagos Finches: the small Ground Finch, the small Tree Finch, & the Medium Ground Finch. He also identified the Woodpecker Finch which is much more difficult to locate.  I was never able to differentiate between any of the finchs.  I was totally reliant on what Luis said.  He never identified anything other than the 2: Small & Medium Ground and Small & Medium Tree.  And the one Woodpecker Finch there at the Reserve.  He explained that the differences were all in the size & shape of the beaks.  According to Darwin who originally identified the Galapagos Finch population, the thing that makes them unusual is that instead of there being many species that have developed specialties in how & what they eat, in the Galapagos, there are mostly only Finches & they developed differences in the one species.  We did continue to see the Mockingbird on every island.   I've already added 13 species to my Life list just today!!!!

Because Santa Cruz is a volcano, there are many lava tubes throughout the island.  One of the most accessible ones is here in the Reserve, so we took the opportunity to walk down into it.  There were stairs & railings.  It was just dry & cool inside.  

There is a large covered building that holds some tortoise shells & a small gift shop.  We really appreciated it the last time we were here because it was cold & rainy.  

Today it provided a chance for Luis to introduce us to his silly side & get our first group picture!

We didn't hang around too much & we weren't ready to spend any money yet either!

Our bus ride back to the dock was of interest only because we got caught up in a very small cattle drive!  Apparently there are small farms here on the island that raise cattle.  

Back at the dock, we were treated to the first of our seven beautiful sunsets!  This is certainly a magical place! Thrilled to be here!!

When we got back on board the Carina, we enjoyed the first of the normal fruit drinks that were always waiting for us when returning from an excursion.  There are many many types of fruit in Ecuador & we were treated to juices made from them at least 3 times a day - breakfast & when returning from the 2 daily excursions.  Some were extremely sweet, but all were good.  

After being given a short time to finish getting our luggage organized, we had our first meeting where Luis gave us the list of islands we plan to visit, our plan for the following day & let us know if we'd be traveling through the night.  Most of us used this 6:30pm meeting as a call to Happy Hour.  Although we had already been traveling together for a week, these daily meetings gave us an opportunity to chat & get to know each other better.  Our group is getting along pretty well.  Dinner was always served at 7pm.  

When we left the dining room to head to our cabins for the evening, we all enjoyed the close up of a visiting Brown Pelican who thought he had a nice place to roost for the evening, but this was to be a traveling night, so he soon had to move along!  We established our standard routine of returning to our cabin about 8:30pm and working for a few minutes on our computer, then watching 1 or 2 Man in the High Castle episodes to relax before bedtime.  On our first night, we would start cruising about 11pm & travel until about 4am.  Good night!!!